Chapter 21

Darkness. Bathed by a frigid howling wind, building like a choir of screams. In a child's bedroom, a clock ticks. A Christmas candle flickers. The wind moans outside as we drift past a child's desk. Textbooks and toys. Gadgets and clothes. And then an envelope crudely addressed to the North Pole. Next to that, an unfinished letter that so far only reads "Dear Santa..." A reindeer costume draped on a bed occupied by a sleeping Max Engel. Tousled hair, mouth agape, even while asleep Max evokes a mix of wide-eyed innocence and adolescent mischief. All is calm. All is bright. Until...the roof creaks. The faint yet deep sound of wood beams straining. Max stirs but doesn't awaken. But then CRREEEAK. It happens again, louder and longer. Max's eyes pop open. He sits up, curiously listening to the ticking clock and eerie silence. And then-

WHUMP. Skitter-skitter. What sounds like footsteps on the roof. Could it be? Max looks at the advent calendar that Omi gave him on his wall, its tiny door opened to DECEMBER 22. Confused, he nervously walks to the window and opens the curtains to find- Nothing. Just darkness and trickling snow. Looking up at the sky, Max's face is tinged with disappointment when HAM! A huge figure slams into his window. Max stumbles back, a shadow falls over him as he gawks in horror at a creepy plastic Santa decoration... Dangling upside down, entangled in flickering Christmas lights. St. Nick slowly swings back and forth, dead eyes staring into our souls. Annoyed and creeped out, Max sighs as he looks from his window and up into the night sky, rising high above an overly festively decorated small town. He looked at his school daily planner and saw that not only is tonight his little play but also his sister's ballet for Swan Lake.

🎶It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Everywhere you go Take a look in the Five & Ten Glistening once again With candy canes and silver lanes aglow It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Toys in every store But the purdy-est sight to see Is the holly that will be on your own front door🎶

At a megamart, mobs of bargain rampage through a sprawling warehouse megamart already making the running of the bulls look like a cake-walk.

🎶A pair of Hop-a-long boots and a pistol that shoots Is the wish of Barney and Ben Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk Is the hope of Janice and Jen And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Everywhere you go Now there's a tree in the Grand Hotel One in the park as well The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Soon the bells will start And the thing that will make them ring Is the carol that you sing Right within your heart🎶

A lot of shoppers were fighting to the death to save a few bucks: A frenzied mother knocks over an old lady to grab discounted cell phones...Two husbands fist-fighting over video games were tasered by security guards as their mortified wives watched...Screaming kids on the lap of a drunk mall Santa while their waspy parents yell at them to stop crying which in hindsight you can't blame him for being drunk...Frazzled minimum wagers...An elderly salvation army bell-ringer nearly mowed down by shopping carts...A toddler nursing a black eye...All the holiday insanity that we see on the news every December is happening in horrifying detail. Finally, under the store's massive fake Christmas Tree: A chorus of kids dressed in homemade holiday costumes - snowmen, elves, and sugarplum fairies. But most of the kids aren't singing because they're cheering at Max, now dressed as a reindeer. But poor Max is sprawled on his back, shielding himself as he's pummeled by a brawny kid dressed as a shepherd. Teachers rush to pull them apart while in the audience: Tom and Sarah Engel, Max and Mary's upscale, uptight parents, try to force their way through the horrified crowd, while the older sister, Beth, gleefully records the pint-sized brawl on her phone.

🎶A pair of Hop-a-long boots and a pistol that shoots Is the wish of Barney and Ben Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk Is the hope of Janice and Jen And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Soon the bells will start And the thing that will make them ring Is the carol that you sing Right within your heart.